Truss with encased ventilated and stabilized pad



April 17, 1956 H. G. NELKIN TRUSS WITH ENCASED VENTILATED AND STABILIZED PAD Filed Sept. 7,-1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l Henry 6. lVe/lr/n INVENTOR.

April 17, 1956 H. G. NELKlN 8 TRUSS WITH ENCASED VENTILATED AND STABILIZED PAD Filed Sept. 7, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.2 22

Henry 6. A e/km IN VEN TOR.

United States Patent TRUSS WITH ENCASED VENTILATED AND STABILIZED PAD Henry G. Nelkin, Kansas City, Mo., assignor to Grover C. Welter, Roswell, N. Mex.

The present invention relates to an improved truss expres'sly designed to be worn by human beings.

An object of the invention is to improve upon prior art trusses, generally speaking, and to improve, more specifically, on the truss disclosed in Patent No. 2,423,215 granted to Grover C. 'Welter' on July 1, 1947, and a subsequent pa'tentalso granted to Grover C. Welter under Patent No. 2,695,019 issued under date of November 23, 1954. i

More specifically, novelty is predicated on the combination of a body or waist encircling belt of appropriate construction, an abdominal contacting and pressure applying pad, a pair of front suspension straps which are attached to and depend from the belt and are connected with upper forward corner portions of the pad, a pair of leg straps which are connected at their forward ends to lower end portions of the pad and at their rearward ends to said belt, and wherein the improvement has to do with the laminated construction of the pad,- this characterized by a front wall of. open work fabric, nylon mesh, for example, a fleece-coated fabric ply or piece of flannel forming the back wall, the two walls being marginally bound by stitched binding around their entire edges and defining a casing containing a compressibly resilient filler, the pad proper, the latter preferably constructed of sponge rubber.

Another phase of the invention has to do with a truss which is characterized by a composite pad which is generally triangular in over-all outline or plan and which has an apical clearance notch at its lower end providing left and right hold-down extensions, a longitudinally curved upper end, a body encircling belt, a pair of suspension straps connected at their upper ends to said belt and at their lower ends to the respective upper corner portions of said pad, and a pair of leg straps connected at their forward ends to their respective hold-down extensions and connected at their rearward ends to said belt,

said pad being made up of front and back walls having their entire marginal edges joined by way of edge bindings stitched in place, said walls thus defining a casing, and resilient cushioning in said casing.

More importantly, novelty is predicated upon a pad of the aforementioned shape, that is, triangular with a notched bottom and a curved edge top and wherein metal stays or equivalent whalebone stiffeners are arranged in jackets or pockets which are secured to the rear or interior surface of the front wall and which are arranged to converge downwardly toward the crotch portion of the notch and to line up with the hold-down extensions.

Further novelty is predicated upon the converging arrangement of stiifeners or stays in the casing of the pad, wherein the upper ends are close to the upper corner portions of the pad and are provided with snap fasteners to accommodate the lower attachable ends of the suspension straps and to, in this manner, equalize and distribute stress and strain and to effectively bind the compressibly resilient pad against the ruptured or other affected area.

Other objects, features and advantages will become 2,742,038 Patent ed 17, 1955 more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying sheet of illustrative drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

, Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a truss improved and constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention; 7

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the same;

Figure 3 is a section on an enlarged scale taken on the horizontal line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view .on an en larged scale of one corner portion of the nylon mesh front wall of the casing showing the jacketed stiffener and, the manner in which it is attached and used.

Referring now to the drawings with the aid of reference numerals and with respect to the pad proper, and treating this in a unitary sense, it is denoted by the numeral 6. Looking at Figure 1, for example,- it will be seen that this pad in an over-all sense is generally triangular. The basal portion is treated as the upper end and the apical portion is the lower end. With this general observation in mind, it will be noticed that the upper end is curved downwardly, as at 8, to provide satisfactory conformation when brought into contact with the abdomen of the wearer. The vertical edges 10-10 converge downwardly toward the apical or apex end and thelatter end is formed or provided with a suitably sized and shapedclearance notch, denoted by the numeral 12. This notch defines a pair of left and right hold-down extensions 14 and 16. A

pair of leg straps 18 areprovided, and th'ese are attached,

by way of flannel or equivalent sleeves 20 at their forward ends to the lower ends of the extensions 14 and 16. The opposite orrearward ends of the leg straps are looped or otherwise adjustably buckled'an'd joined; as at 22-22, with the complemental portion of the body encircling belt 24. The latter is of any appropriate construction. It is provided on its forward portion with snap fasteners 26-26 which serve to selectively accommodate snap fasteners 28-28 on the upper end of the depending relatively short hanger or suspension straps 29-29. These straps are provided at their lower ends with snap fasteners 30-30 which are connected with complemental snap fasteners 32 (see Figure 4) provided in the upper corner portions of the pad.

With respect to the pad in particular, and as before mentioned, this is a laminated or composite structure. Instead of being open along the upper edge, as in the Welter patent, No. 2,432,215, or open and then connected by separable snap fasteners, as shown in the Welter patent, No. 2,695,019, the marginal edges are closed all the way around. To accomplish this, the casing is made up of a front wall or ply 34 of open work fabric. This is preferably a suitably cut piece of nylon mesh which is shown, for example, in Figures 1, 2 and 5. A correspondingly shaped piece of fabric 36 provides the back wall, and this is preferably surfaced with a fleecy material, and it may be conveniently referred to here as a piece of flannel, with the fleecy material on that side which contacts the body of the wearer. The marginal edges of these plies or walls are brought together and secured together by a marginal binding 38 stitched in place, as at 40 in Figure 4. This casing contains the filler or pad material which is preferably compressibly resilient. This may be any appropriate cushioning or, as is often used, a piece of sponge rubber 42.

I call attention also at this stage to the stitfeners or stay members. These are usually relatively short strips of metal or the like, and they are denoted by the numerals 44-44 (see Figure 5). These stays are placed in an elongate fabric jacket' or envelope, which is denoted by the numeral 46. This, in turn, is stitched in place and is made up of two duplicate pieces of fabric tapes 4843. This same envelope or jacket serves as a means for mounting or attachment of the snap fastener 32. It will be noticed that these jacketed stays are stitched to the upper corner portions of the interior side of the piece of nylon mesh 34, in the manner illustrated. They are in downwardly diverging relationship and are lined up with the hold-down extensions 14 and 16, in the manner brought out in dotted lines in Figure 1.

By lining up the jacketed stays 44 with their hold-down extensions 14 and 16 and causing them to converge towards the crotch portion of the notch and then attaching the suspension or hanger straps 28 to the snap fasteners 32 carried by the jackets 46, an over-all well balanced structural arrangement is attained. That is to say, the tightening of the belt 24 and the proper adjustment of the leg straps 18 and suspension straps 28 causes all of these to contribute their proportionate shares to the over-all result of binding the pad against the abdomen of the user. The stays 44 stiffen the pad suifieiently so that although it is comfortable and compressibly resilient, it is nevertheless sufficiently firm to achieve the end results desired.

Since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A truss comprising a composite pad generally triangular in over-all plan and having an apical clearance notch at its lower end providing left and right h0ld-d0vvn extensions, a longitudinally curved upper end, a body encircling belt, a pair of suspension straps connected at their upper ends to said belt and at their lower ends to the respective upper corner portions of said pad, and a pair of leg straps connected at their forward ends to their respective hold-down extensions and connected at their rearward ends to said belt, said pad being made up of front and back walls having their entire marginal edges joined by way of edge bindings stitched in place, said walls thus defining a casing, and resilient cushioning in said casing, said front wall being a single ply of nylon mesh having ventilating properties, and said back wall a piece of flannel the nap-surface of which faces rearwardly and is thus positioned to come into contact with the wearers body.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 and a pair of verticaliy disposed resilient stays embedded in said casing and attached to and solely carried by said front wall.

3. The structure defined in claim 1 and a pair of vertically disposed resilient stays embedded in said casing and attached to and carried by said front wall, said stays converging toward said notch and aligned with their respective hold-down extensions.

4. As a component part of a truss, and as a new article of manufacture, a pad of general triangular shape embodying a curvate upper end portion, a centrally notched lower end portion and embodying a casing made up of a front ventilated wall of nylon mesh, a rear soft-finished wall of fabric, the respective marginal edges of the walls being stitched together and bound completely around their edges, and a filler pad between said walls, said pad being of compressively resilient material, and a pair of divergent stays, the stays being joined to the interior surface of said nylon mesh and contained in fabric jackets fastened to said mesh, the upper ends of the respective jackets having snap fasteners incorporated therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 445,666 Yost Feb. 3, 1891 2,078,523 Arnsparger Apr. 27, 1937 2,606,551 Piper Aug. 12, 1952 2,695,019 Welter Nov. 23, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 431,935 Italy Mar. 10, 1948 

